This article is a thought experiment. It constructs ideal types of
political representation in the sense of Max Weber. Inspired by Quentin
Skinner and others, the aim is to give a rhetorical turn to contemporary
debates on representation. The core idea is to claim an ‘elective affinity’
(Wahlverwandschaft, as Weber says following Goethe) between forms
of representation and rhetorical genres of their justification. The four
ideal types of political representation are designated as plebiscitary,
diplomatic, advocatory, and parliamentary, corresponding to the epideictic,
negotiating, forensic, and deliberative genres of rhetoric as the
respective ways to plausibly appeal to the audience. I discuss historical
approximations of each type of representation and apply the combination
of representation and rhetorical genres to the understanding of the
European Union’s unconventional system of ‘separation of powers’. I
conclude with supporting parliamentary representation, based on dissensus
and debate, with complements from other types.